I see and read posts about Juan/John Adames acting, and a lot of viewers say it's awful. He got a razzie award. Remember...
LAURENCE OLIVIER also has a Supporting Actor Razzie for 1980's The Jazz Singer. I guess you can’t win ‘em all.
They both got their razzies the SAME YEAR!!
Anyone who thought John Adames was a bad child actor must not have seen many movies or TV shows. His Phil Dawn wasn't the best but wasn't close to the worst. I've seen child "actors" continually stare off screen to find out what to do and say next. Those types way worse than anything Adames did in this movie.
If anything, the dialog was way inappropriate and unrealistic for such a young child, at times. Definitely not his fault. That's on the screenwriter.
Since there weren't many Puerto Rican child leads in movies around 1980, people felt like he needed to be put down.
No two persons ever watch the same movie.share